
Reading insurance trade magazines isn't everyone's idea of a great time, but every Californian should pay attention to the latest news in that arcane world. "State Farm to pull out of 72,000 California insurance policies," blared a Reinsurance News headline. State Farm provides nearly 21 percent of state homeowner policies, so this is big news. Last year, it stopped writing new homeowner policies. Now it's "non-renewing" existing ones and getting out of apartment policies entirely.
Stories about the state's crisis du jour have seeped into the mainstream media too. "The ongoing home insurance crisis in California is about to deepen as yet another company has announced its withdrawal from the state over profitability concerns," explained Newsweek earlier this month, reporting on the exit of Texas-based American National.